Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 6, 1990 TAG: 9004060061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: AUGUSTA, GA. LENGTH: Medium
"You play a lot of rounds as a young kid thinking you're at Augusta National," said the golfer. "I always pretended to play well . . . do this, do that . . . but I never shot 64."
Playing for real, Donald fired a dream round of 8-under-par 64 Thursday to take the first-round lead in the 54th Masters.
"All I can say is that it was the round of my life," said Donald, 35, who qualified for the Masters by winning the Anheuser-Busch Classic in July at Williamsburg, Va.
"To be honest, I hadn't played well in practice this week. When I went out, I was just hoping I didn't shoot a bad round to take me out of contention."
Donald, nicknamed "Iron Mike" on the PGA Tour because he plays so many tournaments, was golden Thursday. His 64 tied Lloyd Mangrum's Masters record for low first-round score (set in 1940) and was only a shot off Nick Price's 1986 course record.
After his birdie barrage, a dazed Donald said, "I never figured this."
The entire day at Augusta was hard to figure. Trailing Donald was yet another Masters first-timer, John Huston, who carved out a 66 in the day's early hours.
Peter Jacobsen, a recognizable name who rarely plays well here, was at 67.
Bill Britton, another no-namer in his first Masters, was fourth at 68.
The rest of the 85-man field, including all the pre-tournament favorites, was well back.
Included in a huge group at 70 were Masters winners George Archer, Ray Floyd, Bernhard Langer and Larry Mize. Virginian Curtis Strange, seeking his first Masters title, also was 2 under.
"I don't know what the hell I'm doing in here," Strange said in the interview room, after salvaging his round. "I'm six shots back."
Well, Strange is in much better shape than the other favorites. Included in that underachieving group were defending champion Nick Faldo (71), Jack Nicklaus (72), Ben Crenshaw (72), Mark Calcavecchia (74), Seve Ballesteros (74), Tom Kite (75), Greg Norman (78) and Paul Azinger (80).
Still, Donald and the other players know there's a lot of golf to play.
"Hey, this is only Thursday," Strange said. "Let's see if they're around on Sunday."
Donald realizes his work may have just begun.
"Usually, 8 under is a pretty good score at the end of the tournament," Donald said. "And I'm sure not going to repeat this and be 16 under after [today]."
"I'm leading now, but I've still got to go out and play some golf."
He sure played some golf Thursday. After opening with three routine pars, Donald birdied six of the next seven holes, rolling in five putts measuring a total of 96 feet and chipping in from 40 feet at No. 9.
He laced a 7-iron to 18 inches from the flag, setting up another birdie, at the treacherous 155-yard, par-3 12th.
"At that point," Donald said, "I knew things were working for me."
Donald got to 8 under at the 500-yard, par-5 15th, when he laid up short of the water, and lofted a sand wedge to 4 feet.
Any chance Donald had of tying Price's record ended on the par-4 18th, when he sliced his tee shot into the right-side trees.
But Donald's day of breaks continued. "I had a good lie and wide-open shot," he said. "I couldn't believe it."
Donald whistled a 5-iron to the right fringe, then almost holed a 40-foot chip for birdie. He settled for par and a round of 64.
"Beyond my dreams," he said. "To shoot 64 and be leading the Masters? What can I say?
"I played well and putted well. I played a very smart round of golf. I just tried to put the ball on the green where I would have a chance to make some putts, and I made a ton of 'em."
Donald, whose best finish in 10 previous 1990 starts was a tie for 18th at the Hawaiian Open, said he had no idea he would play so well.
"Last night, I didn't sleep a whole lot. I was hitting the ball so poorly in practice.
"Now, after this, I doubt I'll get much sleep tonight, either."
Huston, who qualified for the Masters by winning the Honda Classic four weeks ago, had six birdies and no bogeys in his cruise-control round.
"I just didn't hit any bad shots to where I had to struggle any," he said. "I didn't miss a green, never had a par putt over 4 feet.
"Sixty-six doesn't surprise me. I played great. I had total control."
Jacobsen, who attributed his round to "great putting," said everybody shouldn't be daunted by the two leaders' numbers.
"As they say, the slums of Chicago are full of first-round leaders," Jacobsen said. "What happens Thursday, Friday and Saturday doesn't mean much. It's Sunday that counts."
For a day, though, Mike Donald didn't have to pretend. He enjoyed the real thing.
by CNB